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The Best Video Games On Awful Systems
Buffalo55 writes "For the most part, classic games manage to reappear on different systems. Just look at Nintendo. The publisher has done an excellent job bringing NES, SNES, Genesis and even old school Neo Geo titles to the Wii's Virtual Console, while Microsoft's Game Room brings the best of Atari's 2600 into the living room. Of course, not every console was a success. The '90s, in particular, saw quite a few flops from companies like Panasonic, Sega and Atari. Just because a system is a failure, though, doesn't mean all of its games suck. On the contrary, most of these machines have a few gems that fell between the cracks once the console croaked."
What overlooked game on a failed platform would you like to see revived?
I had an Intellivision as a kid. It was awesome. There was a game for it called Utopia that was the first Civ-style resource management game I ever saw. I played it endlessly.
Wow...
No Radiant Silvergun on the Sega Saturn?! The one that's been known to go for several bills on ebay, and still goes for ~$150?
That was like the very first title to come to mind.
Apple Macs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marathon_(video_game)
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
Scorched Earth!!! The mother of all games!!! I would pay to have it multiplayer on Android.
When modding "Informative", please make sure it both has a source and IS actually informative.
The PSP *seriously* let down the game, compare the Epic Citadel tech demo (which you can get from the App Store for yourself right now) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtcLSXKk5To to the graphics ingame, and its shocking. Much of Peace Walker were jaggy angles, with crappy fog effects, as you ran from loading point to the "end" marker. Long loading times, extremely basic level design...
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I remember playing "No Man's Land" on my Amiga 600 quite a lot with a few friends over.
Usually turned into a drinking game, but was fun as hell.
Don't know if that game have been remade or something similar to that game have been made.
- Don't do what I do, it's probably not healthy nor safe. -
On the TI-994a. Excellent game for the time.
A rebooted version was written a while back which is as good.
http://www.dreamcodex.com/
The article references the 90s, but even tho the Atari 7800 saw only modest success (if you call more than zero units success) I miss Ballblazer. Great simple gameplay.
Roll Away/Kula World is a really well-done puzzle game for the Playstation 1. It runs in smooth 60 FPS and manages to actually look decent in 3D. The music is really soothing techno. Playing it really exercises one's mind in manipulating 3D objects.
No game better fits the description of "good game on bad platform" than Burn : Cycle for the CD-i. The atmosphere, soundtrack and "mature" content were amazing.
Syndicate Wars
Theme Hospital
Z - yes that the title
All little that I loved playing on the Playstation. Although I cant say I'd wanna have a remake of Theme Hospital that one ca stay there.
I think one of the best games that was on a very un-productive platform (NeoGeo) is R-type. I grew up playing this on an arcade machine and ultimately wanted to buy it and play it at home. I don't think it was ever made for the console systems I had (NES and Atari-2600, at the time). I don't even know anyone who owned a NeoGeo during the early 90's originally. I think R-type was one of those games that survived via arcade success even though it wasn't ported over to a vastly popular gaming system.
Are you blind?
HI O WISE PRINCE. WHT TOOK U SO DAM LONG?
Sonic CD is still one of the best games in the franchise. I like Sonic & Knuckles (connected to Sonic 3, of course) a little better overall, but that may just be because of the times.
"He who can destroy a thing, controls a thing." --Paul Atreides, Dune
Pushy II on Acorn. :P
As kids we had those cheap Golden China NES knock-offs, this month I've been playing Mario Bros et al. Last night it was Sonic 1, and Splatterhouse 3. Yeehaa!
Die Hard Arcade on the sega saturn. God it was great, it even did QTE well and back when they were still new and novel. You could pick up all kinds of melee weapons and guns, 2 player co-op, Thems were the days them. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxmFuQ2JAfk
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The Sega Saturn had some of the best games no one will ever, ever play. Off the top of my head, some of the elite games were:
Radiant Silvergun
Saturn Bomberman
Legend of Oasis
Nights into Dreams
Panzer Dragoon Saga
I don't miss any specific so much as the experience. A a kid I always had a much stronger emotional experience when playing games as I do nowdays. My first game on my first PC: Lemmings was great. I don't think I did anything productive for a few days. Duke Nukem, Commander Keen and Monkey Island followed. All the great adventure and RPG games: anything Lucas Arts, Lands of Lore (Westwood), Ultima, Call of the Cthulhu. I always loved great story telling. VF III in the arcades was some of the funest gaming times I had.
need I say more? Best game ever.
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
Played this a few times in a Florida video arcade during a summer vacation as a teenager - Cadash is a side scrolling D&D-themed adventure with the option to choose mage, priest, warrior or ninja at the beginning and play coop with a 2nd player. Spells were interesting, with the priest/mage you held down the attack button until a bubble appeared over your character's head and rotated through your available spells, letting go would cast it and take away from your available magic points. The arcade version was a quarter eater because you would steadily lose hitpoints in the same fashion as Gauntlet.
About a decade later one of my roomates happened to have a working Turbo Graphx 16 and a copy of Cadash so I finally had the opportunity to beat the game. Oddly I prefer the arcade version even though the graphics are about equal.
I happen to think Total Eclipse on 3DO was best game, better than Crash n' Burn. I still enjoy playing it today.
On the Acorn Archimedes. The Archimedes didn't really *suck* per se but wasn't a massive success. I loved this version and many people consider it to be the best.
Immercenary was a cross between a first person shooter and a RPG as you had to build up stats by defeating weaker opponents and absorbing their powers until you were strong enough to take on a boss character. Defeat them and you got a big stats boost and could take on higher level enemies until the confrontation with the big boss, Perfect. It had a great atmosphere and each time you ventured out into the "Garden" (the battleground) you were never sure if you'd be attacked by a stronger character and have to make a run back to sanctuary. Had the feel of a MMPORG about it too. Probably the first game I played until I defeated it.
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This is the game that put Hideo Kojima on the map, and rightfully so. It's all but forgotten now except in classic gaming circles, but that game was groundbreaking and did so many things right. It's a shame that very few people will experience it. It seems like Sega systems are riddled with games that fit into the "shame that very few people will experience it" category. I speak as one of the 25k or so owners of Panzer Dragoon Saga. It's a crime against the gaming community that more people can't experience, what amounts to me, as the most awe inspiring RPG ever created.
Wise men say, "Forgiveness is divine, but never pay full price for late pizza."
3DO:
Way of The Warrior
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Way_of_the_Warrior_(video_game)
Programmed in a garage and apartment, with the programmers and friends as the fighters. Ohh yeah, and White Zombie did the soundtrack.
"Shaky Jake, WIN!"
Dark Wizard was the first turn-based tactical war game I ever played. The bad translation from Japanese can be overlooked in light of the awesome soundtrack and fun gameplay. Hex based, it wasn't equalled in my mind until Missionforce:Cyberstorm for Win95 years later.
I had so much fun playing Virtual On, but with the original on the Sega Saturn and the sequel on the Dream Dast the game series was destined to fail.
I'm going to assume sarcasm because despite being historically noteworthy that's a horrible game. You could get a z-machine interpreter and play it.
After writing that it occurred to me you mean the graphical version not the original text based game. Here is your port: http://www.dreamcodex.com/playwumpus.php
It's there for Android. It's called Armored Strike.
... on the Neo Geo.
I thought they were pretty cool fighting games. I especially liked masturbating over Janne on a regular basis. :-P
== Jez ==
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I bought a used 3DO with a number of games really cheaply. The game I loved the most was Return Fire, mostly for the crazy multi-player matches I had with my friends and/or brothers. I tried the sequel for the PC some years later but it wasn't the same.
Twisted: The Game Show was fun for parties too, but eventually got old. I still have my lifetime supply of nothing that I won by spinning a zero.
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Space Hulk was pretty badass. One of the first FPS games that I really got into. I have the say the graphics for that game were pretty top notch at the time. That I could have team mates with me and issue commands was just so far ahead of anything I could remember. It's hard to find such a solid shooter to this date. Then I'd have to say AvP. I remember many nights with headphones plugged into my controller with the room completely dark, staring at my 27in CRT TV getting the bujeezus scared out of me. :) The atmosphere for that game was just unreal.
Star Wars Arcade (32X)
This video contains content from Sony Music Entertainment
who has blocked it in your country on copyright grounds
So, that I have to buy a 32X console, and the game to see how was it?
Virtual Boy Wario Land, not to be confused with the original Gameboy game.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_Boy_Wario_Land
(Nintendo, if you're listening, a 3DS port please!)
I actually sort of miss the paddle controllers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paddle_(game_controller)
Were great for playing some of the driving games, as well as pong-like games and especially Clowns (the little seesaw you control on the bottom of the screen while two clowns bounce around on it and collect balloons in the air).
That's mostly what I miss... maybe I could throw together some similar game for my Logitech G25 wheel >:-D
Loved Mr. Do, but had an ADAM system. Remember those? Good game, rotten system.
Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong fix.
My vote goes to Road Rash on the 3DO. Fantastic game, awesome soundtrack, great console.
Atari Jaguar:
* Tempest 2000
Atari Lynx:
* Chips Challenge
* Klax
* Slimeworld
* Electrocop
Dreamcast:
* PowerStone
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I grew up in South Korea and MSX was very popular along with Apple II. MSX had some of the best games and almost regarded as game console, even though it was a fully capable computer. Some memorable games include - Firebird (Hinotori), King Kong II (never seen King Kong I), Knightmare I & II, etc. I would love to see them or their sequels... :)
I haven't seen anyone mention this one yet. The 3D0 version of Road Rash is one of the greatest games of all time, on one of the biggest flops of all time. If you had a Genesis, you know how awesome Road Rash is. It was perfected on the 3D0. Fast gameplay, fluid graphics, high quality audio. For a system that was known for shitty FMV games, this is arcade style perfection. It's worth buying a 3D0 for Road Rash alone.
Wouldn't a Road Rash HD be amazing?
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I loved that game. Probably the best action puzzle game ever IMHO. It would have been nice to have save files instead of passwords, though.
--- What?
The best part of that game was the beginning when the name of the game was announced in the worst Southern accent imaginable... B-17 Baaawwwmberrrrr!
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blocky graphics notwithstanding, Adventure on the 2600 was a favourite for me. Even though they looked like penguins. the appearance and subsequent pursuit of the dragons was enough to inspire shrieks of terror!
With the "Retina Display", the A4 chip, the aluminium/glass construction, App Store... they really have become lightyears ahead of Sony.
And then you said:
The PSP always needed a second analogue stick.
iPhone and iPod Touch don't even have one analog stick, D-pad, or buttons. Unlike those controls, a multitouch screen has no tactile feedback. A touch screen is better for some genres but worse for others, and I can see Sony targeting genres not amenable to touch control.
Surely its much easier to develop for the iOS (and Android of course) platforms? Why bother with some crappy PSP? What kid would want a PSP Go, when you can get an iTouch, probably for LESS
So can I get an "Android pod touch", or do I have to buy a cell phone to get Android 2?
what about night trap on sega cd and cd 32x?
or the sega channel?
Custer's Last Stand. Way ahead of its time.
I am actually looking forward to reading the long running replies on this /. of people who read the "poster's" line:
" What overlooked game on a failed platform would you like to see revived? "
The article is very small compared to what I hope others post as their favorite old games on failed platforms, though I would not necessarily say "failed platforms" in every case... I would think more like "out-dated platforms" for many.
~Z
There are a LOT of games out there that most people will never have the opportunity to play, because they're dead. Just because the ROMs are available and there's an emulator or three does not mean people will have the opportunity. They're likely not even aware of them.
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I think for this discussion to be fruitful, we need to agree on what an awful system is. Consoles that didn't get a lot of mainstream attention, but still have awesome games are not awful systems. This would be things like the TG-16, Sega Saturn, or Neo Geo.
Then there's the 3D0. Amazing hardware really, but it failed due to marketing issues. There are a few truly amazing games for it, but just a few. Most of it's potential is untapped. Is that an awful system?
I think we can all agree that things like the Action MAX, Hyperscan, and game.com are awful systems.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
The best hummingbird-based shooter ever was released only on the 32X
I got my PC gaming start on the Atari ST, and Sundog was a game I played religiously. Way ahead of its time. In the game, you're a captain of a starship left to you by your dead uncle. You can explore various planets in the universe, explore cities within those planets, go out into the wilderness, etc. It had a simulated stock market economy where you could by goods cheap on one planet, and sell them for a higher price on planets with greater demand.
Dungeon Master is another Atari ST game that I played all the time. Very good early example of your 1st person dungeon crawler.
Loved the games on that old ST...
Did it provoke an enjoyable discussion? Yes? Then it's more than welcome on /..
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They going to present the best video games on Windows?
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I don't know whether to be happy or sad that the very first thing I thought of when I read the title "The Best Video Games On Awful Systems", was Alien Vs. Predator on the Jaguar. Happy memories of playing the game but sad to think of the Jaguar as an "awful" system. I'd still own it today if I hadn't fried it by plugging in the wrong wall-wart. :(
I had 3 of those 4 games(no N-Gage for me). Missing games would be Tomcat Alley/Sega CD(shiatty now, but great during its time), Iron Soldier/Jaguar(best game hands down on the Jaguar, AvP was nice but 2d sprites instead of polygons), Gex/3DO, Brutal Sports Football/Jaguar, and the Bonk series/TG16
Digial computer's Vax, not really a success as a game machine....
but it did have one ASCII adventure game that was great fun.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larn_(computer_game)
n/t
you had me at #!
JOUST....
I spent hours as a kid play joust.
Some people never learn...no matter how many times something happens to them.
Loved MULE. Of course it wasn't until decades (after reading about strategies on a web site) that I realized that there was a secondary goal of helping the colony thrive. I just loved to bankrupt the other players by flooding the food market so that no one else put money into it, and then starving them off so that they couldn't function.
Come to think of it, I used a similar strategy in Civilization. If the population grew too fast and they became unhappy, I would let they starve to death (which decreased the population below the unhappiness threshold) and then they were happy again. Hmm.
Wonder Boy 3 on both Turbo Grafix - 16 and SMS was brilliant and almost as good as Super Mario Bros 3.
AD&D: Treasures of Tarmin on arguably the worst system ever, the Mattel Aquarius. Played the hell out that one.
'nuff said.
The crappiest gaming system of the 90's was the PC :)
Remember GP EGA ? Sherman M4 ? Xenon 2 ?
All these CGA/EGA gems that we forgot ?
(and I agree, Tempest 2000 on Atari Jaguar is really impressive !)
It's the game Plumbers Don't Wear Ties should have been!
While the Gamecube was not exactly as ill fated as the systems mentioned in the article, the system lost out on a good deal of gamers because of it's childish preconceptions. Eternal Darkness was one of my personal favorites that never was received as well as it should have been.
"Don't meddle in the affairs of a patent dragon, for thou art tasty and good with ketchup." ~ohcrapitssteve
M.U.L.E. was on the Atari 8-bit. That's an awesome game for an awesome system. Not applicable to this discussion.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
Would love to see an updated Mutant League Hockey
Return Fire on 3DO. Well, it was ported to PC and PSX, but it appeared first on the 3DO. Many, many hours lost to that game. Desperately needs a remake.
Karma: Can only be portioned out by the Cosmos.
Wizard of Wor on the Bally Astrocade.
Any number of games on the Vectrex.
While I don't remember it very well, I remember having lots of fun with Dodge-It on the Fairchild Channel F.
DragonForce was the gem of the Saturn system, if you ask me. :-) Fantastic game... and it hasn't been ported to any other system yet! Ugh!
"Never give up, for that is just the time and place when the tide will change." -Harriet Beecher Stowe ^_^
What about Pathways into Darkness? 1993, Mac, also by bungie. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pathways_into_Darkness
Yes please, I'd like to see Herzog Zwei (Two Dukes) from the Sega Megadrive/Genesis.
While the Sega Master System wasn't over considered a fail console (but much like the game gear, I find the controls really fucking crappy), the game, 3D Missile Command rocked.
Still have my Sega Shutter Glasses.
Be seeing you...
The most totally addictive game on my C-64: Drelbs. I think it ran on Ataris as well.